Accepting Fate
by spiffykay
Summary: Everything happens for a reason. Things are destined to be. Fate intervenes. But understanding and accepting doesn’t come easy. SS from Seth’s POV.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Me owning The OC is a resonant and resounding no.**

**A/N: Oh, look! I wrote another oneshot! Or actually it's gonna be more like a two-part oneshot… whatever. Anyway, I was having a few mind blocks with other things I should have been doing – _ahem_ homework – so procrastinating at not failing out of college was my number one choice. And as for this whole plot – I'm completely sorry if it sucks. I honestly don't know where it all comes from, I just kind of sit and write (or type, actually) and then it's done. I never know what I'm writing about until it's finished – is that normal?**

**All right – here is my second attempt at an SS oneshot – or two-parter. It's a bit longer than I had anticipated (okay, so a lot longer than I anticipated, hence the two parts), but I hope you guys like it all the same.**

**Read. Enjoy. And review please telling me how you liked it and to let me know if you want me to post the other part or just leave it here.**

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"No," Summer shook her head forcefully. "No, no, no."

"Summer…"

"I said no, Cohen. And I really, really mean it."

Summer crossed her arms as she stood at the side of Seth's bed. Seth still lay against his pillows, sighing back at his girlfriend. "Your flight leaves at five am tomorrow morning. You need to pack."

"No, I don't."

Seth stood up, leaving little room between his body and Summer's. "Then I guess I'll just have to pack for you. And – if I might make a small suggestion – you should probably stop me before I walk out that door because I have a habit of throwing things into a suitcase without neatly folding them causing extreme wrinkles in every piece and crevice of clothing." Seth tried to smile at his girlfriend, poking her cheeks with his pointer fingers and twisting them at the sides of her mouth.

"You are _not _packing for me."

"Good. Glad you took my suggestion. I'll just come with you and watch then."

"No, what I meant was I'm not leaving so there is no need to pack."

Seth pushed himself in front of Summer, trying to make his way towards his door as Summer pulled at his arm pleadingly. "Seth, no. I can't go. Don't do this. Don't make me."

Seth looked back helplessly at his girlfriend as she fell into his arms' embrace and let sobs take over her body.

Seth knew Summer didn't want to leave for Brown. He knew she had been avoiding it all summer, never getting any of the necessary supplies and ignoring the numerous calls and voicemails her future roommate had left her when trying to get in touch with her. Summer was leaving for Rhode Island in less than eight hours and she still had yet to pack anything at all.

During the past summer, it had been Seth's duty to keep Summer's spirits high. After Marissa's sudden and shocking death, Seth made it his job to keep Summer's life still stable. He let her mourn for the first month, but once Summer fell into her everyone-I-loves-leaves-me routine, then trying to break up with Seth because she was fearful of a break up during their semester apart and didn't want to have to go through the pain again, Seth took action.

"Listen to me," Seth had told her as she wailed all this nonsense on the floor of her walk-in closet, grasping onto her draping clothes, "You're not breaking up with me. And I'm not breaking up with you. We're staying together until forever and you're gonna put up with my rambling and I'm gonna put up with your rage blackouts because that's what's supposed to happen. So get up, go to the bathroom and do whatever you have to do that makes you think you look presentable, and I'll meet you downstairs so we can go get some fried food down at the pier."

Seth had then marched out of her closet and her room as Summer sat there speechless, hearing her boyfriend's steps descending down the stairs. Summer had never seen Seth so determined that her brain closed off all the crying and over-analyzing and focused on Seth's new personality trait, gathering herself from the floor and doing just as Seth had asked.

Seth liked to think he had grown a lot – emotionally wise – during the past summer. Things were sure different post-Marissa and it was reflected in almost every single Newport Beach resident. Seth felt ashamed at first that he didn't feel any different after Marissa's death. Sure, he had felt confused, angry, and upset, but he thought that was normal with any death. He just didn't realize the entire town had such strong feelings for Newport's very own teenage drunk. Seth felt like he had been living in such a daze – that the town had come to a complete halt after the accident. He hadn't been to one party, he hadn't heard of any new scandal. And he certainly wasn't drowning his tears in tequila.

He had immediately decided he needed to be strong not only for Summer, but Ryan as well. Ryan hadn't done much at all during the summer months. He brooded in the pool house, only coming out for required family dinners and get-togethers. When Seth wasn't trying to keep Summer happy, he was hanging out in the pool house with newly silent Ryan, playing video games or telling him about new comic books or planning their upcoming semester together. Because the day after Marissa's funeral, Ryan had decided to give up on his Berkeley dream, feeling that Marissa's death foretold him not to leave Newport. Like he was destined to rot his life away in this hellhole of a town and never be happy again.

Seth wasn't falling for that. So instead he had planned on a sailing trip up to Seattle – the only place Ryan would half-heartedly agree to – to leave the day after Summer left for college at Brown.

And still, Summer wasn't packed while Seth's suitcase sat in the foyer of his living room as if to remind Ryan of the trip that was actually going to happen in a matter of a few short days regardless of his less than ecstatic feelings about it.

"Summer…" Seth held her close, rubbing her back, "It will be all right. I'm coming to visit at the end of next month. That's only four weeks."

"Four weeks that I've never gone not talking to you in person," Summer mumbled into his now drenched shirt.

Seth pulled back, holding onto Summer's shoulders, looking lovingly into her eyes. "Summer. It seems to me you have forgotten fourth through ninth grade. That's three hundred and twelve weeks of never talking to me."

Summer stopped crying. "You did that math in your head?"

"No, I have it memorized to remind myself that I should never do anything stupid again that could inflict another three hundred and twelve weeks of being completely off your radar."

Summer stood on her tip-toes grazing her lips against his. "I love you, Cohen."

"I love you too."

"Good. And that's good enough reason for me not to go."

Seth rolled his eyes and let go of Summer, making his way to his door, albeit a little difficultly as Summer tried to pull his arm out of his socket to stop him from leaving the room.

"Seth!" Summer screamed like a two year old as Seth made his way down the stairs with Summer's hand secured around his forearm, "I'm not going! Stop! Cohen, stop it!"

Kirsten and Sandy threw questioning glances as their son left through the front door with his girlfriend trying unsuccessfully to stop him. Seth merely shrugged his shoulders in his parents' direction, ignoring Summer's loud pleas, and closing the door once Summer had followed him outside.

It wasn't like Seth actually _wanted _Summer to leave. It was just that she needed to do this. She needed to become her own person again. And after the intense and tragic summer they had just had, Summer had done either one of two things: She either clung herself to Seth, afraid to ever let him out of her sight in fear that something would happen to him if she wasn't around or, inversely, pull away into the lonely expanses of her pink-painted room for continued solitude.

Neither helped Summer become more independent or move on with her life. Seth saw the Summer he had fallen in love with slowly begin to deteriorate because of the traumatic experiences in her short life and he didn't want the sparkle in Summer's eyes to completely disappear until there was only a memory of it all. Seth vowed to make sure Summer was fully prepared for Brown and to make sure he'd make it known that he would still be her support system during their months apart but that she, in turn, had to go out and try new things.

Seth was holding up his end of the bargain. It was Summer who was having difficulty following through on hers.

"Cohen! I fucking mean it!" Summer stomped up to the car as Seth sat in the driver's seat of the Range Rover and turned the headlights on. "I'm. Not. Going."

"Yes. You. Are," Seth reiterated as he turned the engine on and Summer stared blankly at him through the passenger's seat's open window, "Now get in so we can go get this done quickly and return to our fantastically awesome last night I had planned."

"Why do you want me to leave?" Summer asked sincerely, lowering her voice for the first time since they had been in the house. "I mean, I know I've been a little difficult lately but…"

Seth immediately jumped out of his seat, swinging the door open and shutting it haphazardly as he ran to Summer's side. He engulfed his girlfriend's small, petite frame as she quietly cried into his shirt, rubbing circles on her back. "Of course I don't want you to leave. I want to stay here, in this moment, for the rest of our lives just hanging onto you as if nothing else in the world matters. But _everything_ in the world matters right now, Sum. And you gotta go do this. You need to try out Brown – just see what it's like. Please?"

Summer looked up into Seth's comforting eyes and nodded slightly, adding, "All right. But I'm gonna hate it."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to go," Seth chuckled faintly.

"No," Summer shook her head. "I'm saying that 'cause you won't be there."

Seth felt his heart flip a little. Every time Summer said phrases like these or told him she loved him, he couldn't help but want to sneak a glance over his shoulder to make sure she was most definitely talking to him. This time was no different.

"Yes, I'm talking to you, Cohen," Summer smirked through her tears.

That was another thing that made it impossible for Seth to even think about writing his relationship with Summer off as a regular high school sweetheart deal. Summer knew him. And not in the stalkerish way Seth had known Summer before a relationship had bloomed between the two, but in the way that she made the distinct choice to be with Seth above all other possible Harbor High guys. Even when Seth thought his brain waves were going unseen and unheard, Summer would retort his unspoken comments out loud, causing Seth to wonder if he had actually said them. Of course he never had – he wasn't going mentally insane – he just couldn't understand how _the_ Summer Roberts had become _his_ Summer Roberts.

And a person would think that after three years of being in an off and on again relationship, Seth would be in understanding of this piece of information by now.

Nope. Seth wasn't. And hence, the still heart flippy thing.

"I know…" Seth replied, grinning widely as he held Summer closer. "You're gonna have fun. And make lots of new, interesting friends. And have all the college experiences you've been dreaming about. No parents, no curfews, no rules – just you. You're gonna be happy at Brown, Summer. You just gotta give it a chance."

"If it's so great why aren't you going?" Summer replied hotly, taking herself out of Seth's close embrace and crossing her arms. "Why don't you just pack up all of your stuff too and come with me?"

Seth sighed heavily, smiling as he did so. "I want to. So bad. But someone's gotta keep the reminder of Summer Roberts in Newport, don't they?"

"Are you saying people are gonna forget me?"

"No, no, no. That's not it all. It's just… ahh… whatever, forget I said that," Seth waved his arms carelessly through the cool California night air. "You know I'll be out there with you in January. And we still have Thanksgiving and Christmas to work with, not to mention my trip out there next month. And until then I'm just gonna hold down the fort, you know – West coast style, counting down the seconds until we're –physically – back together again."

Summer uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around Seth's torso, leaning the side of her face into his strong chest. "You're lucky I like adorable guys. Cause if I didn't I'd probably be saying something along the lines of how cheesy that just was."

"Oh, I'm cheesy?" Seth snickered. "Right. Cause your whole whining about not talking to me for four weeks or not having me out there with you would make the entire Brown experience a nightmare wasn't cheesy at all."

Summer didn't bother responding with anything more than a laugh as Seth opened the passenger's side door for her and closed it when she got inside.

Seth drove down the driveway and as he did, he saw Summer stealing last looks at the house that had been the starting point for their entire relationship – the last image of the Cohen residence becoming burned in her memories as she strained to still see it nearly a mile down the road.

Seth smiled, looking contently out onto the road in front of him. Summer may never admit it but at that moment, Seth Cohen had Summer Roberts wrapped around his finger.

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The trip to Seattle was definitely not what Seth – and Seth supposed this went for Ryan as well – had planned or predicted. First of all, they were delayed a few days due to rain – _rain!_ – in Southern California. Last time it rained was… well… okay, so last time it rained it was awesome. Seth was able to finally woo Summer, thus having a long, amazing, and unbelievably awesome reunion in the rain in an upside down-kiss like one reenacted from the movies. But Ryan's memories? His girlfriend leaving him. Flat out, high and dry, leaving him; opting for the Windy City instead of the fine perks of the California sun and the "invitation" of Seth's grandfather as her very own father. Ryan didn't fail to mention this – it was one of the rarest of times when he chose to speak his mind this past summer – stating that it was fate telling him not to leave Newport, even for a few days, to go to Seattle.

Seth was definitely having enough of this stupid "fate" thing. With Ryan making philosophical points every time he opened his mouth, Seth's mom gently rubbing his back whenever Ryan refused to do any of the normal stuff they used to do constantly before the accident and telling him "Let fate take its course," and then Summer all "Brown isn't so bad. I kind of like it here. It's like fate, you know? Like I was destined to come here," Seth just couldn't take anything more about fate.

Seth hated fate. Fate was fucking up his best friend and screwing with his girlfriend's dwindling phrases of "I miss you's" and "I love you's."

But anyway – so this Seth-declared "momentously awesome" trip was postponed two days. Then, when they finally got going, they had to turn back three times due to forgetting things. Seth was sure he had had everything covered for the five-day trek up to Seattle, and he figured if they forgot anything they could always stop off at the various ports and get what was needed. Ryan, although, hesitated and forced Seth to turn the rented small yacht around at precisely 11:43am, 2:30pm, and 4:23pm thus causing another day delay to their trip.

It was that night that Summer had called for the first time since arriving at Brown and Seth had been anxiously awaiting to hear from her. He had told her at the airport during their long goodbye that Seth wanted Summer to wait until she had settled in to call him. Of course, he hadn't thought that it would actually take four days for Summer to squeeze in time to call him, racing through her speech, not bothering to ask how Seth's trip to Seattle was going – as if he had cell phone reception in the Pacific Ocean – and ended her ten minute call with, "All right. Henry's calling me back in! We're doing a round of shots! I'll see you! Miss you! Bye!"

Summer had declared in their short conversation that she was having an "amazing time" just as Seth said she would. She loved her roommate, she loved her dorm floor, and shockingly enough, she loved the food. She was continually screaming all of this into the phone, even after Seth had told her this, but Summer only apologized laughing, saying she was at a party for a new friend down the hall – Henry, Seth presumed later. Everything was making Summer happy and she was beyond squealish when she told Seth all of the small and insignificant details, letting Seth's heart break with each passing sentence.

Seth couldn't figure out why he had been so upset. This was exactly what he had wanted for her. For her to be happy and excited and full of energy again. It was late – or early depending on which way you want to look at it – that night/morning that Seth realized that _he_ had wanted to be the one to change this for her. That _he_ wanted to be able to make her the happiest she's been since before her best friend's tragic death.

So Seth wallowed the next day – along with Ryan – as they set out of the Newport Beach port and north towards Seattle, with Seth purposely leaving his cell phone behind so he didn't have to hear anything more from joyful Summer.

For the first few hours, Seth had felt relieved to have the vast ocean surrounding him, the wind wiping through the cool air, and the smell of salt encasing his senses. Seth had tried to lighten up, also trying to lighten Ryan up, but it was no use. They spent the night in the port of San Francisco, falling silently asleep to only the sounds of the swaying boat in the harbor.

The next day Seth was more determined than ever to make this an unbelievable trip. He tried to play games, joke around, and anything else he could think of even just to see his best friend crack a smile. Nothing worked. Ryan spent the entire day brooding at the end of the yacht, while Seth navigated, always keeping an eye on Ryan to make sure he didn't try throwing himself off the boat in a desperate attempt to end his misery.

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"How about we check out the scene around here?" Seth had decided the night they stopped in some random harbor in Oregon. "It looks like a happening pace."

Seth smiled to himself as they got off the boat and onto the dock, surveying the surroundings – or lack thereof.

"There isn't anything here," Ryan replied deadpanned, not realizing the intent of Seth's joke.

"I know. It was a joke, buddy," Seth smiled as he lightly hit Ryan's back. "Come on. Let's go find some food or something."

Ryan trudged behind Seth as Seth found what looked like a decent seafood restaurant about a mile down the harbor line. Ryan had forcefully said no at first, saying he hated seafood and probably hadn't eaten it in years, but Seth stated that since they were fishermen now they should probably try eating like fishermen do. Ryan was too exhausted to argue with Seth so he followed him into the restaurant and ordered himself a tuna melt, seeing that that was the least amount of fish he could get in a place filled with all types of seafood.

That night proved to be hellish. Seth had been hoping for a fun last night sailing the high seas before they arrived in Seattle the next afternoon, but Ryan's stomach decided otherwise. Ryan spent the majority of the night flinging himself over the yacht's railing, heaving the contents of his stomach into the dark harbor. Seth had tried to help him early in the first hour but after Ryan turned around, looking pathetically sick and gross, and had mumbled bitingly, "This is why I don't eat seafood, Seth," Seth had smartly decided to stay away from him for the remainder of the night.

After an hour of holing himself up on the harbor dock, and then walking up and down the beach a couple of times, Seth came back to the boat both to check on Ryan and get Ryan's cell phone. Seth was still surprised Summer hadn't tried calling Ryan after he presumed she had called Seth's phone, never receiving an answer. But Seth didn't think too much of it and dialed Summer's number anyway as he sat on the dock, letting his legs dangle from the side like a small child's.

"Hello?" Summer answered, a little slurred.

"Summer? It's me," Seth replied sheepishly, hoping for an over resounding ecstatic squeal from Summer.

"Oh…" she trailed as faint voices could be heard around her. "Wait... who?"

"It's Seth," Seth groaned, unhappy with the greeting. "Your boyfriend."

"Oh!" Summer laughed. "I didn't recognize your voice! How are you?"

Seth sat there agape, tearing the phone away from his ear and looking at it incredulously as if it were some kind of joke. Then, almost immediately, he turned his head in all directions around him to see if cameras were hiding, waiting to make a fool out of him.

"Seth?" Summer questioned loudly through the phone. "Seth, are you there?"

Seth snapped the phone shut, feeling irate and betrayed that his own girlfriend didn't know the sound of his voice anymore. That she was off with all her new friends, forgetting he even existed.

The ring of Ryan's phone seconds later flooded the silent harbor and Seth stared down at Summer's number showing up on the screen. After a few moments, Seth decided to answer, already missing the sound of her voice. "Hi."

"Hey. I think we lost connection there. I guess cell phones don't work as well when there's… like… a lot of miles between them," Summer giggled.

Giggled. Like the fact that Seth and Summer were separated by precisely 2,987 miles of United States land was funny.

Seth sure as hell wasn't thinking it was funny at all.

"What is up with you?" Seth barked in the phone. "Why is that funny?"

"I don't know," Summer giggled again. "I guess it just is. What's up with you?"

"Oh, you know," Seth replied sarcastically. "Just sailing up the West Coast with a very sick best friend and a dead harbor with nothing to do surrounding us in every direction."

"Right!" Summer laughed again. "You were supposed to go to… where was it again?"

Seth gritted through his teeth, trying to keep his fading composure. "Seattle."

"Right! Seattle! Guys," Summer shouted away from the phone to the steady voices Seth had been hearing in the background. "My boyfriend's sailing to Seattle!"

Seth could hear a few "cool's" and "awesome's" but the one from a male voice that bothered Seth the most and rung in his ears was, "You have a boyfriend?"

Summer had ignored all the comments mostly, focusing her attention back on Seth. "So how is it?"

"I just told you Ryan was sick and there was nothing to do here."

"You're already in Seattle? Wait, I thought you just left."

Seth rolled his eyes, unbeknownst to Summer, and muttered into the phone. "We're not in Seattle. We're in Oregon. We left five days ago."

"Oh!" Summer laughed. "See, I think I knew that, it's just everything's been so crazy here. Awesome crazy, but crazy, you know? Like, it's amazing here, Seth. You'd love it. The people here are so nice and the workload isn't even that tough. It's like _fate_, Seth. This place is perfect!"

Seth let Summer go back to rambling about her experiences at Brown, mostly ones he already knew about, for only a few more minutes before he cut her off. "Look, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later," he told her, and then added after a beat, "I love you."

"Bye, Seth!" Summer shouted as the voices around her got louder. He figured that as soon as he had told her he had to get going she went back into the room of people, excited to resume her partying again. "I miss you!"

And that was it. She hung up leaving Seth stunned. She didn't even bother saying that simple phrase that had become so natural for them to say to each other over the past year. She didn't care about his life, didn't remember anything of importance to him, and clearly she hadn't tried calling him since before he left on this sailing trip with Ryan.

And, just like that, Seth decided he was cutting back on Summer Roberts.

He needed to stop focusing on Summer's lack of attention towards him or he'd end up ruining the relationship and, in turn, cause Summer to turn to another guy. He didn't want to play the overprotective boyfriend but he didn't want to ignore her completely so his decisive mind settled on calling her once a week before he went to visit in Rhode Island to – hopefully – make things better.

Because anything was better than sitting on a random dock in the middle of nowhere Oregon, grasping his brother's phone as he heaved over the side of the yacht in the drizzling rain.

Yeah, Seth definitely hated fate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of this. Don't bother suing me 'cause I have nothing.**

**A/N: This is the second-part of my oneshot. Or not oneshot but two-parter – whatever. Anyway, here it is. I kind of think it's a bit awkward but regardless I'm still posting it anyway.**

**Hope you enjoy it & if you're reading my story "Doubts and Insecurities," the next chapter should be up by the end of the week.**

**And a HUGE thank you to parks586 for pointing out something that would have otherwise made me look like a gianormous idiot. So thanks. :)**

**Read. Enjoy. And review, pretty please.**

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Turns out that in Seattle no one cares if you're under twenty-one and want to order a drink.

Ryan and Seth learned this the hard way the second they jumped off the yacht and walked up a street of bars with people already completely plastered at six at night stumbling from one bar to the other.

Seth looked at Ryan and Ryan shrugged his shoulders back in response and then suddenly they were getting trashed at six at night in a bar called "Dicky's Tavern."

After Ryan had had a few beers and a couple of shots floating through his system, he was laughing hysterically at the name of the bar, saying they were probably at some homosexual bar and didn't even know it.

Seth laughed and then abruptly stopped, shaking his head. "Dude," Seth slurred. "We're not gay."

"Dude," Ryan imitated back, "I know."

Just then, like as if on cue, two girls who looked college-aged approached Ryan and Seth. One, Seth noticed, looked more than faintly like Marissa – tall, long wavy light brown hair, and blemish-free skin covering her thin frame. Seth then noticed that Ryan had clearly taken notice of this too, even smiling as the girl sat next to him and began chatting with him.

Seth smiled. He was glad Ryan was smiling again. It was weird but maybe smiling was just what Ryan needed to know he wasn't doomed to suffer through life in Newport.

"Excuse me," the blonde who had arrived along with the look-alike Marissa, waved a hand in front of Seth.

Seth shook himself from his thoughts and refocused his attention on the girl. "Hi, sorry."

"It's okay," she smiled showing off two perfectly straight, white rows of teeth. "I wasn't sure if you were sick or something."

"No, I'm awesome. Awesome, awesome, _awesome_," Seth announced as he downed another shot that was put in front of him.

The blonde laughed. "I'm Amy."

"Seth," Seth grinned, taking a chug from his new beer. "And can I just tell you that I _love_ Seattle."

Amy giggled and soon Seth found himself in quite a chatty conversation which slowly turned into hazed and scattered images as the night progressed and more alcohol entered his system.

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The next morning Seth woke up in the boat, trying to glance for the time on their digital clock but being shielded by a disheveled couple lying on a pull out bed next to his – it was Ryan and some girl he didn't think he had ever seen before.

"Wha…?" Seth stuttered as he sat up, noticing the thin girl sitting in the yacht's other room with what appeared as only an oversized t-shirt, eating some cereal from a bowl. She must have heard Seth move because she looked up from her bowl and then saw Seth, smiling and waving innocently at him.

Seth sat confused, but smiled and waved back anyway, finally seeing the clock that told him it was 10:52 in the morning. He got up, glad to find that he was in boxers and a t-shirt as Ryan and the other girl looked rather unclothed, and made a move towards the other girl eating cereal.

"Sleep well?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah…" Seth stood a few feet away from her as she began to stand up, letting the t-shirt fall largely around her small body, and then leaving a lingering kiss on Seth's cheek.

Seth cringed and tore his face away, looking at her. "Who are you?"

The girl laughed innocently. "I'm Amy. You don't remember last night?"

Seth shook his head dumbfounded and very afraid to know if he should even want to remember the previous night.

"Well, I guess that's okay. Random hook ups on vacation are always a fun time for me, regardless of who remembers it or not."

"We hooked up?" Seth's eyes bulged out of his head.

"Yeah," she laughed. "But don't worry. I didn't take advantage of you."

"I didn't sleep with you, did I?"

Seth's horrified face must have stunned Amy as her smile faded. "Am I that unattractive?"

"No! No!" Seth covered, not wanting to cause drama to an already awkward experience. "It's just… I have a girlfriend. And I love her. And I'm _not_ a cheater."

Amy's smile formed once again. "Me too. But that doesn't mean that I can't have fun while on vacation."

Seth looked on at her incredulously, but quickly gained composure again when he realized his last question hadn't been answered. "Did we sleep together?"

Amy began walking back towards the beds but turned around at Seth's question. "All I can tell you is that you are one hell of a kisser. But beyond that, I wouldn't know," Amy smirked before adding, "I'm just gonna get Jenny – my friend who hooked up with your friend last night – and get going." Amy sauntered off as Seth fell into the now unoccupied seat, letting everything sink in.

He kissed another girl. A girl that wasn't Summer.

Well that was just… that was just… yeah, that's just _awesome_.

Sarcasm racing through his brain at his last silent comment was definitely noted.

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"We really fucked up, man," Ryan muttered on the Greyhound bus, rubbing his temples.

It turns out Ryan actually slept with the other girl – now known as Jenny – but that he had actually remembered bits of it, also remembering that Seth did nothing else with the girl known as Amy besides a rather hot and heavy make out session.

Ryan claimed he didn't notice any groping by either of the two and whether Ryan was just hiding the truth to spare Seth's freak out and guilty feelings or if he actually was telling the truth, Seth didn't know. But he sure liked to think he wouldn't sleep with anyone else besides Summer. And anyway, he was dressed in the morning, Ryan wasn't. That clearly stood for something.

And in any case, Ryan seemed pretty content with his one-night stand with Jenny aka Marissa's look-alike. He had said that since he and Marissa had never had one last night together, sleeping with Jenny was like closure. That it was fate that he was to randomly meet and then sleep with someone who looked identical to Marissa Cooper.

Seth scoffed and told Ryan that fate could go screw itself because there was no way he was "destined" to cheat on Summer. Ryan claimed it wasn't cheating, but rather a fun, drunken night out. Seth rolled his eyes and mumbled something about "fucking fate."

After their exciting two days, both of them unanimously decided to pay a company to sail the boat back to Newport and that they'd both pay to spend numerous hours on a bus back home. They didn't need any more excitement from Seattle.

Seth hit his head against the head rest, ignoring the pain shooting through his already hung-over head. "Yeah, probably should have figured that going to the city where Nirvana hailed from was going to cause some problems."

"How do you think Summer's going to take it?"

"Right now," Seth sighed, closing his eyes, "It doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter?" Ryan asked, genuinely surprised. "What does that mean?"

Seth looked over to Ryan, wondering if he should tell him all the screwy details of his life while Ryan was still picking up the pieces to his. Ryan seemed to notice Seth's hesitation and spoke up again. "Seth, I know I've been pretty frustrating this summer and that you haven't really had anyone to talk to -"

Seth cut him off, smirking, "Oh, there was Captain Oats."

"Right," Ryan laughed. "Captain Oats: the ever always listening plastic horse and forever faithful sidekick."

Seth looked over to Ryan, laughing slightly. "Yeah…"

Ryan chose to speak up again, shifting Seth's thoughts to shock at Ryan's willingness to suddenly talk. "It's gonna be a long ride back to Newport," Ryan told Seth. "You might as well tell me what's going on between you and Summer."

Seth opened his mouth and then shut it. Opening it again and shutting it again.

"Seth, seriously. Just spit it out."

Seth smiled and turned in his seat to tell Ryan his over-animated and slightly exaggerated stories, glad he finally found a positive turn in his best friend's happiness.

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After talking with Ryan and being back in the Cohen household on Newport Beach soil, Seth had made the decision just to be up front about the entire Seattle incident with Summer. Seth had tried telling Ryan that just waiting until he could talk to her face to face would probably be a better idea, but Ryan immediately nixed that plan saying that it would just ruin the trip he was taking to visit her soon. That at least if he told her now, she would have almost two weeks to let it sink in and forgive him, thus having a great time while he was at Brown.

Seth begrudgingly agreed with him almost a week later, picking up his cell phone to finally call and confront Summer.

"Hey!" Summer answered her phone, loud noises surrounding her. Seth was starting to think her dorm was in a football arena or something, considering the constant noise and slurred speech he received from her whenever they talked.

"Hey, Summer," Seth talked gingerly into the phone. "You got a sec?"

"What was that?" Summer shouted back. "I can't hear you. I'm at a party!"

Seth groaned but Summer didn't notice. "You're _always_ at a party."

"I can't hear you! Speak louder!"

"I said you're always at a party!" Seth screamed into the phone, noticing that his voice probably reverberated throughout the entire Cohen mansion.

"Cohen," Summer whined. "It's college!"

Seth snorted. Right, like that was an explanation. "Are you drunk?"

"What?"

"Are you drunk?" Seth yelled.

"Oh… no…" Summer giggled. "Okay, a little."

Seth heard a clear male voice coming through the phone and his words rolling off his tongue so easily, "Hey… you coming? We're starting the Strip Poker. Prepared to lose again, Roberts?"

Summer giggled and then responded, "Just a minute. I'm talking with Seth."

"Who the hell is Seth?" the guy questioned and Summer giggled again.

Seth stood shocked. He tried to sit on his bed for support and instead fell off the side, landing on his butt and losing a handle on his cell phone.

"Seth?" Seth heard Summer yell into the phone. "Seth!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here," Seth replied absentmindedly and then adding after a beat, "Do people there not know you have a boyfriend? And what the hell are you doing playing Strip Poker? Summer, you suck at card games!"

"Chill, Cohen. I'm just having fun. Like you said I should."

Seth never regretted any other words of advice than he regretted those in this very moment.

"I know but I didn't think you'd turn into this raging partying alcoholic," Seth replied cruelly.

"I'm not an alcoholic. I'm having fun! What is your problem?"

"My problem is you, Summer. I thought I should feel guilty about kissing another girl but maybe I shouldn't since striping for your co-eds seems to be routine for you."

"You kissed another girl? Who?" Summer demanded, still slurring her words.

"Why does it matter who? It happened. That's it."

Seth could feel Summer's glare into the phone. "Fine. I'll just go hook up with Henry, okay? He's been hitting on me since I've been here anyway."

"You sure you haven't already, Summer?" Seth questioned coldly into the phone. "You sure you haven't blacked out from partying and drinking too much and that he didn't take advantage of you?"

"He wouldn't do that. You don't know him."

"You're right. I don't. I don't even know you anymore."

"You know me," Summer argued back, a shaky voice now taking over her angry one. "You're my boyfriend. You love me."

"Right. I love you. But what good is that gonna do when you clearly don't love me?"

Summer burst into tears, crying loudly into the phone. "I love you! I do!"

"I'm not gonna stay here while you turn into Marissa and ruin your life through alcohol, partying, and drugs. I won't do it, Summer. I won't."

"I'm not doing drugs," Summer replied weakly into the phone, still crying heavily. "I won't ever touch them. I swear."

"Sure. Well, still, I don't want this anymore. Maybe we should have ended things when you left. Maybe we could still drag this thing out for another month. I don't know. But either way I'm ending it now."

Seth didn't even recognize his own voice as he finished talking and Summer cried even more loudly into the phone.

"You don't mean that," Summer whimpered. "You don't really mean any of that."

"I do," Seth replied, still shocked by the confident sound in his voice. "It's over."

At this last statement, Seth snapped his phone shut, not wanting to hear any more from Summer, and laid down on his bed looking up at the ceiling.

"What the hell did I just do?"

Seth sighed, closing his eyes, and cursing himself in his mind.

Was this fate screwing with him again? Was this destiny that made Seth react the way he did even though it was the last thing he had ever planned on doing?

"I fucking hate fate," Seth mumbled turning on his side.

--------------------------------------------

Seth heard the sound of his phone going off, at first thinking it was a part of his dreams, but then after five or six rings, he was coherent enough to know that his phone was actually going off. Before Seth could register to sit himself up in his bed, he glanced at his digital clock checking the time. It read 6:03am.

"Who's calling this early?" Seth mumbled to himself, seeming to forget the events of the previous night.

Seth rolled slowly off the bed, reaching for his phone on his desk in the darkness, but seeing he had missed the call, he went back into bed still grasping the phone, not bothering to check who called. A minute later, another beep went off indicating he had a voicemail and without looking, Seth flipped open the phone, dialing his voicemail number to retrieve the message.

"Hey, Seth. It's me. Umm… I know this is weird or whatever but did we talk last night? 'Cause I think we did – at least my phone call list from last night says we did – but I don't really remember. Seriously, college has really messed up my memory," Summer laughed through the voicemail. Seth cringed, even in his sleepy state. He was starting to hate when Summer laughed – it only showed all the fun she was having without him. "Yeah, anyway – call me back. I miss you! Love you! Bye!"

Seth deleted the message without looking and threw the phone on the floor.

He'd deal with this at a decent hour.

------------------------------------------------

Seth, who was always known for being the king of avoiding confrontation, ignored Summer's calls, even taking it as far as to tell both his parents and Ryan to tell Summer if she called that he was out.

Of course after a week and a half and a no-show from Seth on the day he was supposed to come visit her at Brown, Summer screamed at Ryan through the phone demanding to know what was going on. Ryan wasn't big on explaining things so he just simply told her, with no real emotion to his voice, that she and Seth were over.

"You guys broke up," Ryan stated quietly. "Like two weeks ago."

Ryan told Seth that Summer had been stunned – to say the very least – but surprisingly had not asked anymore questions. Instead she just asked "What?" as if she hadn't heard Ryan right and he had repeated his already spoken statement and she replied, "Oh. All right… I guess… Okay… Right. So… Bye," and hung up immediately.

When Seth heard about this, he was less than thrilled. She hadn't seemed to react at all and he kept waiting for a random call from Summer to find out exactly what happened. He wasn't sure if he would answer but he still wanted to know that Summer cared; that she wanted to know what happened so that maybe they could try fixing it.

By October's end, Seth gave up waiting for Summer to call him.

---------------------------------------------------

It was November 13th when his father came into the pool house as Seth and Ryan were playing video games to tell them that the Nana had just died.

Two hours later they were on a flight to New York's very own JFK Airport.

The funeral hadn't been fun. Not to say that Seth thought any funeral was actually full of laughs but this one seriously sucked. Ryan had gone back to sulking mode, his parents argued a bit (mostly because his father had been stressed and shocked by the news), and most of all, Seth didn't have Summer by his side.

Seth had liked to think he was doing pretty well without Summer – much better than would have been imagined actually. But when unforeseen things like this happened, he couldn't help but wish he could hold Summer close to his body, feed off the warmth of her skin, and know that no matter what, he had the support system he needed when he needed it. It wasn't like he couldn't function independently – because he could – but he still missed her.

In fact, he missed her a lot.

And if she had called, even once, after Ryan had talked to her he probably would have worked ten times harder to fix things with her.

But she hadn't called. Not once. And Seth couldn't figure out what hurt most right now: Losing the Nana so suddenly or Summer not seeming to care about him anymore.

"Hey, man," Ryan interrupted Seth's thoughts as he entered the Pennsylvania Hotel room they were staying at in mid-town Manhattan, "Apparently your parents were thinking it would be a good idea to stay here an extra week. Have some 'family time' or something. Want to go get some extra clothes? I saw a K-Mart down the street."

Seth looked weakly up at Ryan, "Sure. Give me ten minutes."

Ryan nodded once and left the hotel room and Seth fell back onto the bed, sighing. He didn't want to stay in New York another week. Four days was already quite enough. But on the other hand, he didn't want to go back to Newport. Everything was so stagnant there – nothing ever seeming to change anymore besides the tide. Seth was sick of it. He didn't want to be here and he didn't want to be there.

He wanted to be, well, in Providence. With Summer. Curled up on a small twin sized dorm room bed watching cartoons – or something along those lines – while eating dry cereal and having a make-up-less Summer lean into his shoulder, drifting in and out of sleep.

So Seth sat up abruptly and did one of the most spontaneous things he had ever done in his life.

He was heading to Providence.

Seth ran down the stairs – not wanting to wait for the elevators to arrive to the fourteenth floor – and sprinted through the lobby, ignoring Ryan's calls for him.

"Dude, what the _hell_ are you doing?" Ryan ran after him. "Seth!"

Seth ran into Madison Square Garden – which was only a block away from the hotel and where the Pennsylvania Train Station was located beneath the arena – and sprinted to the concierge's desk asking for the next available ticket for a train to Providence.

Seth didn't know what the hell he was doing and he didn't know how he was going to get around Providence. He didn't have a clue how to find Summer amidst the thousands of Brown students and he _really_ didn't know if fate was screwing around with him again.

But for once, he wasn't gonna analyze this one.

The next train to Providence was leaving in eight minutes and before Ryan could catch up to him, Seth was on it.

----------------------------------------------------

Once Seth had arrived in Providence, he was able to find a taxi to take him to the Brown campus. Thankfully Seth had been there before so he knew where the dorms were located or otherwise he would have no clue where to start looking for Summer. As it turned out, he had narrowed the search down to seven buildings.

If Summer had been even remotely excited about going to Brown this past summer, he probably would have known where she was staying. Unfortunately, Summer had refused to mention any details of her upcoming semester – if she had even known any herself – about where she was staying, who was her roommate, and so on and so forth.

So here Seth was, standing in front of the campus' largest freshmen dormitories, University Hall, without a clue in the world where to start looking for Summer. So he did the only thing he could think to do – he'd lie his way in.

"Hi," Seth greeted the door attendant as he walked through the doors, "I'm here for my girlfriend but, see, funny thing is she's not answering her phone so I just need you tell me what room she's in and then let me up."

"You don't know what room she's living in?" the older man questioned Seth.

Seth shook his head. "Yeah… umm… actually I don't even know if this is the right building so if you could somehow check that out too that would be great. Her name is Summer Roberts. R – O – B – E – R – T – S," Seth spelled Summer's easy last name out for the attendant.

The older man stood up from his desk and began escorting Seth outside. "You need to have someone let you in the dormitories. And if your supposed 'girlfriend' isn't answering your calls then maybe she doesn't want you here. Good bye."

Seth tried to argue his way back in the dorm but the desk attendant wouldn't allow it so Seth went to his next plan – hiding out at the dining hall.

He figured that Summer needed to eat and eventually she'd come up here looking for food and she'd find Seth instead.

Hopefully that would be a good surprise.

After nearly three hours of waiting in the same area, watching students go in and out of buildings and walk the campus, Seth spotted Summer with a few other students, looking like she was in deep conversation. Then he saw her mouth turn into a smile and Seth could feel himself falling in love with her all over again. Summer and her group of friends were heading right in Seth's direction and Seth couldn't remember the last time he had felt so nervous and giddy at the same time.

The door opened and Seth stood up, looking at Summer. Summer's face wore a smile as she pulled the door open and then her eyes glanced up and met with Seth's. At first she didn't react, almost seeming to continue on her way, but then suddenly she stopped mid-step and her smile faded from her face leaving a blank look instead. Her friends didn't notice her sudden stop and continued for a few more seconds until one of the guys in the group spoke out.

"Hey," he shouted from the staircase to go down into the dining hall. "Earth to Roberts! Get a move on – we're hungry!"

Seth broke eye contact first, glimpsing over at the guy and the rest of Summer's group before looking back over to Summer who was still not reacting in any means.

So Seth decided to take initiative. "Hi, Sum," Seth spoke quietly.

The guy from the group came back to Summer, tugging at her arm, "Come on, Summer." He then looked down at Summer's eyes and turned to see what she was staring at and met eye contact with Seth.

"Hey, man," the guy let go of Summer's arm and walked up to Seth, "Who are you?"

"I'm Seth," Seth answered, returning his gaze towards Summer. "I love her." Seth lifted his limp hand and pointed at Summer.

Summer's face seemed to form a smile again as she walked up to Seth, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying into his chest. Seth held onto her as tightly as he could, fearing to some extent of breaking her, and kissed her hair that still smelled of strawberries he remembered.

Seth looked up from Summer's silky hair, noticing the guy still standing there with a completely confused look on his face, and then seeing the other members of the group gathering all around him.

Summer pulled back, gazing up into Seth's eyes, smiling brightly and reaching her lips up to touch his. It startled Seth but it didn't take long for him to react, kissing her back, letting her tongue open his lips and collide with his own tongue. Summer was not even the slightest aware of the crowd surrounding them so Seth ended their reuniting kiss, turning Summer around to her friends.

Summer's mouth dropped open – obviously forgetting the other people that arrived with her -, reflecting the mouths of every single one of her friends, and no one said anything until Seth spoke up awkwardly.

"So…" Seth began. "Are these your friends?" Seth received no reply from anyone so he continued. "Right, well, I'm Seth. Hello. And I'm Summer's boyfriend from home."

"I thought you didn't have a boyfriend," the guy who had asked Seth who he was, questioned Summer.

"When did I say that?" Summer spoke for the first time since she had seen Seth. "I never said that."

"Yes, you did," a girl within the group told Summer. "Back in October. You told us you didn't have a boyfriend."

"We had just broken up," Seth intervened, then turning towards Summer's face, catching her eyes. "But I don't want to be broken up anymore. Summer, I love you."

"What about Henry?" the guy asked Summer.

"What _about_ Henry?" Summer retorted.

"Who's Henry?" Seth interjected.

The guy answered him helpfully. "The guy she's dating."

Seth looked at Summer and Summer looked back at him shaking her head fiercely. "I am _not_ dating Henry." Summer then turned towards the guy. "Jason, I am not dating Henry."

"You went to Homecoming with him."

"As friends!" Summer shouted.

"Is that why you never called me after you and Ryan talked?" Seth quietly questioned, hurt rising inside of him.

"What? No!" Summer turned back to Seth, covering his face in her hands. "I didn't know what had happened. I spent weeks trying to figure out why we broke up. I thought you just needed space and I needed to find out or remember or _something_ before I could talk to you again."

"Summer, I waited for you."

"Then why didn't you call me?"

"Because every time I called you were out partying!" Seth bellowed. "It's like you never had time for me anymore!"

"The first month was crazy. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just trying to forget everything – Marissa, the summer, about how much I missed you," Summer smiled, then continued, "I just did everything fun I could find. You told me to have fun. I wanted to make you happy. I didn't want you to see that I was miserable and then realize you didn't want to be with me anymore because I was always so depressed."

"That would never happen," Seth reassured her.

"It did though. You broke up with me."

The group of Summer's friends – including the guy Jason – had retreated back a few feet, letting Seth and Summer share their private exchange to themselves. Seth noticed this and then gazed into Summer's teary eyes. "I didn't mean it. I was upset. Summer, you're _it_ for me."

Summer's eyes let the tears run free, but not from sadness. The smile on her face showed she was happy and her action of throwing her arms around Seth's neck again and jumping up into his inviting arms proved her happiness.

"Cohen," Summer mumbled in Seth's neck, "You're it for me too."

"Glad to hear it," Seth smirked, showing Summer his adorable dimples.

"What's going on here?" a new voice entered the mix as Seth and Summer pulled their lips apart to acknowledge the voice.

Summer turned her head and then jumped out of Seth's arms, instead replacing her hands in his. "Nothing, Dean," Summer told the older woman, casually. "We were just leaving." Summer began walking out the door, tugging Seth behind her and shouting to her friends, "I'll see you guys later!"

As soon as Summer was out of the building, she let out a barking laugh and Seth stood back, staring at her lovingly, realizing how much he had missed seeing her face. He missed holding her in his arms, he missed kissing her lips, he missed smelling strawberries in her silky hair - he missed everything about her.

"I've missed you. A lot," Seth told her as she struggled to calm down from her laughter and catch her breath in the cold Rhode Island air.

She looked up at him still smiling, with her hair tucked neatly behind her ears and her scarf covering her slim neck and her jacket zipped up completely, securing body warmth.

In Seth's eyes, she hadn't ever looked more beautiful than she looked at this moment.

"You are so beautiful," Seth mumbled in awe as she continued smiling brightly, coming closer to him.

"So are you. And I love you. And I've missed you more than you could ever know," Summer replied sincerely without sarcasm, wrapping her arms around his torso. Seth put his arm around her shoulder, choosing to not reply to her declarations of love, pulling her closer as they walked off to her dorm.

As they approached the dormitory after a few minutes of silence just listening to each other's feet crush the leaves beneath them, Seth realized they were going to the same dormitory he had tried to get into earlier.

Seth broke the comfortable silence and fixed his eyes on Summer's once again, "I didn't know which dorm you were living in. But I came to this one. I didn't know which one it was but I tried this one. Only this one."

"Guess it was fate," Summer beamed back at him.

Seth, although noticing the irony of the word, grinned back at her. "Yeah, I guess it was."

They walked in, hand in hand, and the same desk attendant was on duty. The man raised his eyebrows at Seth, clearly remembering him from earlier, and Summer opened the door, holding up her ID tag and then telling the older man, "He's with me."

"Oh," the man simply replied, slightly embarrassed as a result of Seth's cheeky grin, as Summer made her way towards the stairs.

Seth stopped before they got too far and turned back towards the older man, telling him, "Looks like my girlfriend does want me here," Seth smirked. "And even though you didn't let me in, I still found her. I think that's what they call fate, buddy."

Seth turned back around, glancing at Summer's still wide smile, picking her up suddenly causing her to shriek in laughter, and beginning to bound up the stairs with her in his arms.

"Come on, Sum. We've got a date with destiny."

Summer laughed and mumbled about how cheesy and dorky he was being but Seth only continued grinning as he carried his girlfriend up the flight of stairs.

Maybe everything does happen for a reason, Seth thought as Summer's giggles intensified. Maybe destiny isn't just a romantic phrase for people looking for an excuse. Guess fate wasn't such a bad thing after all.


End file.
